Developing and using evidence portfolios
Funders typically looking for applications to demonstrate:
•Evidence of need for what you are proposing, and why your project is the right approach to
meeting this need
•A set of outcomes linked directly to meeting this need
•Activities which contribute towards these outcomes
•Outcome based indicators and tracking
•Measuring success and learning as project proceeds
Each process different and what is required/allowed to be submitted usually tightly
restricted, so hard to say exactly what to use and where, but:
•Taking an outcomes based planning approach in submissions is likely to prove increasingly
important
•Supported by evidence from previously developing, delivering and monitoring outcomes
based programmes
Big Lottery Fund: How to make a good
application
You must be able to demonstrate
•Your project outcomes meet an identified need and helps to achieve the changes we want to
make through the area of investment relevant to your project – and the need for your project
must be backed up with evidence
•Your organisation can deliver the project well and achieve the proposed project outcomes
Your evidence of need should be
•Relevant to the project you are applying to us for, specific to your client group and in
proportion to the size and scale of your project
•Show why your project is the most appropriate way to meet the identified need
•Show user involvement in project development
Our assessment of your application is based around your outcomes – how well your outcomes
are meeting an identified need, how likely you are to achieve them and how well they fit with
the aims of our funding. Outcome Indicators will tell us how you will measure progress.
http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/pub_make_good_application.ppt
Also includes a useful slide on writing good outcomes
Outcomes based planning approaches
Theory of Change was the outcome based planning approach used in CPAL (and NPC model)
•Ultimate outcomes
•Long term outcome
Outcomes pathway
•Supporting outcomes
•Activities
•Key performance indicators
Big Lottery refers to the CES planning triangle
• Aim: the overall point of your project
• Intended outcomes: the difference you intend to make or the change you aim to bring about
for your beneficiaries, the community or the environment
•Activities: the main services and activities you plan to carry out - what those working on your
project will actually do, week by week
•Plus outcome indicators
http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/er_eval_explaining_the_difference.pdf
OBA (Outcomes Based Accountability)/Turning the Curve approaches
•Share a lot of common ground with Theory of Change, but without placing the same emphasis
on the outcomes pathway
Making the case
Able to answer the following questions for one of your projects
•What was it seeking to achieve – the overall aim/long term outcome
•How you knew it was needed
•What outcomes it set out to deliver - supporting outcomes/intended outcomes
•What it achieved, how you measured this and over what period
Evidence standing by and ready to go
•Focus groups and interviews
•Impact assessments and/or distance travelled approaches
•Case studies
•Photographs, videos, press releases and/or press coverage
•Existing evaluations, impact assessments or return on investment/value for money
studies
•Tailored to meet the needs of individual prospective funders
Making the case
Outline one of your projects to a health funder or community capacity building funder
•What was it seeking to achieve overall?
•How did you know it was needed?
•What outcomes did it set out to deliver (supporting outcomes/intended outcomes)?
•What did it achieve, how did you measure this and over what period?